LEASEPILOT

Problem

The founders of LeasePilot, both lawyers, wanted a tool smarter than Microsoft Word, for writing commercial leases for retail properties

Project

July - August 2015

I led and executed the user research, UX design, and visual design

I worked with a Pivotal Labs product manager, two engineers, and the two co-founders of this startup

Success

Designed and developed a user-centered MVP ready for alpha

Initiate direction on brand and visuals

Goals

During the project kickoff, I helped our clients set both high and specific level goals. These small posters were posted in our workspace.

Persona

These characters are based on my research and insights from the two founders to help us make user-centered decisions. We designed LeasePilot for Larry but had to consider his colleauges who rely on him.

Research with Lawyers

The legal process is wildly complicated. We invited lawyers like our persona Larry to talk about their work. I led a session to help them draw and think out loud what the lease-making process looks like for them.

Scenarios

Insights from research become short stories that describe the problems our customers have. Here's an example of a scenario I wrote with my client to be sure we're on the same page. I use scenarios as a starting place to sketch features we'll eventually test with users and build.

Sketches

My clients had a deep understanding of the problem space. We sketched together many workflows to visualize a better way a lawyer could generate a lease.

Prototype

Sketching together helps generate many ideas. This also helps the team get closer to building the most important thing first.

Visual Design

At such an early stage, the LeasePilot team was looking for a light touch visual design enough to get out the door so we could start start learning from customers. I did a short branding exercise and applied different color themes to the Android Material Design Framework.

We paused design at this point to help preserve their resources. For this reason I chose a Material Design so the developers could continue on easier without a designer. Months later Leasepilot brought on a new designer who helped launch the product which is now available for lawyers. You can learn more at leasepilot.co.